A Debt Repaid
by contagiously funny
Summary: Kel is injured, and an unexpected friend comes to her aid. How do you repay someone who saved your life? Chapter 3 is up! Read and Review please!
1. Return of a friend

Disclaimer: I don't own the anything….

_Block_

_Strike_

_Swing_

_Slice!_

_I'm getting too old for this,_ thought Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan, the second lady knight of Tortall as she gritted her teeth as she yanked her glaive from another bandit and turned to face another. She irritably brushed her graying hair out of her eyes. She felt her horse shift in order to strike out at a man trying to unhorse her. Kel sighed inwardly, once again missing her first warhorse. While she knew he wouldn't live forever, the sting of his death would never completely disappear.

It had been years since that battle, where an enemy soldier had sliced Peachblossom's neck. Even a mortal wound wouldn't stop him from keeping Kel safe. He had trampled the soldier after the sword was pulled free. Kel had jumped down, assuming Peachblossom would fall. He didn't.

Instead, he had followed the lady knight as close as possible and fending off many of her attackers that rushed at her once her feet touched the ground. At the end of the battle, Kel, covered with blood, knelt beside her fierce warhorse. He had finally fallen after five arrows had hit him. Kel pulled each out as carefully as possible, trying to cause as little pain to the gelding that had saved her life countless of times. Even near death, the gelding was tough, barely making a sound. Kel had knelt next to him till he finally stopped breathing, stroking his neck the whole time and murmuring praises. Right before he passed into the Realms of the Dead, he firmly bit Kel's arm. She got his message as clear as if he had opened his mouth and spoke. _Love you._ _Don't get yourself killed._

She didn't allow herself to cry at first, she would be brave and tough for her warhorse and friend. Once she got to her room, she didn't even bother to clean up from the battle, just sat in the middle of her room and wept. Everyone left her alone for the rest of the day, knowing what Peachblossom had meant to her.

Now, in the midst of yet another battle, the lady knight blinked back a few tears as she and her current warhorse, Amaya, charged forward. She knew it was bad to get distracted during battle, but it had been happening more and more lately.

_Strike_

_Swipe_

_Block_

_Block_

_OUCH!_

Blinding pain shot up her right side as she fell from her saddle. There were three arrows sticking out of her side. One hit her shoulder, one bellow the ribs, and the third deep in her thigh.

_This is what I get for not taking time to put on my armor when in a hurry!_ she thought angrily as she tried to fight on the ground. Amaya panicked when her rider fell off and started rearing and hitting anyone who came close to her, whether it was friend or foe.

It was pure bad luck that not only was she the only knight, but also the only trained fighter in the area when the small town had been attacked. She didn't even have time to find out the name of the town, she just ran in to place and started fighting off bandits without a second thought. With her horse running off, she was outnumbered five to one, and two were on horses. Pure, stinking, bad luck! Kel fought furiously, now on the defensive, despite the arrows. Her vision was beginning to go spotted when she saw large shadow pass over her followed by a blood curling screech. She and the bandits simultaneously looked up in time to see a copper figure dive down at them. The lady knight jumped back just in time, while the two horsed bandits weren't so lucky. They were dead before they hit the ground, causing the other three bandits to hesitate. They looked at each other for a second. And ran away. However, the copper figure wasn't done just yet. It picked up one and dropped him in a nearby river, while Kel struck down another with her bow and arrow. The last one ran into the woods and the copper figure flew after it.

It came back out a few minutes later and landed right in front of Kel. Now she could see it was a griffin, despite her spotted vision. She frowned_. It couldn't be_. She reached out a hand slowly and stroked its beak. _His beak_, she reminded herself. Suddenly the griffin's beak snapped out and tried to bite her fingers. The lady knight smiled.

"You've grown." is all she said to her former charge. He was about the size of a horse, maybe a little bigger. After she blew her horn to get help, because she needed a healer for her wounds and didn't have the energy to pull out the arrows, she pulled out a piece of dried meat; she was starving. The griffin rose on his hind legs and tilted his head up, begging for food. Kel gave an exasperated sigh. "You've got to be kidding."

Ok, this is my first fic, so it's not perfect. I had originally meant this to simply be about the griffin, but Peachblossom wanted a bit of the spotlight too.


	2. Copper feathers

After what seemed like hours and blowing the horn numerous times, a few men-at-arms arrived from a neighboring town. By this time the lady knight had found a tree and was trying to rest against it without rubbing against her wounds. Upon seeing Kel and her feathered companion, they men-at-arms picked up their speed and began apologizing profusely before they had even reached her.

"So sorry, milady-"

"We didn't know-"

"-that you was a knight-"

"-or even a noble-"

"-for we would have been faster had we known."

Kel silenced them with a look. Her mouth had turned to sawdust from lack of water, and her stomach was demanding more food. Unfortunately, she was too far from the river for a drink, and the griffin had eaten well over half of her small food supplies. As two of the men helped her climb up behind one of their comrades, she turned to bid the griffin good-bye. Only to find him gone. The only thing left was a single orange feather, slowly floating toward the ground. Wordlessly, one of the men snatched it up and handed it to Kel with a bow. _Good riddance_, she thought sullenly. She refused to think that maybe she had wanted him to stay. She nodded her thanks and motioned that they should head back. Her wounds were starting to really pain her.

After arriving at a rather well-to-do town, the lady knight was immediately brought to the healer's house. Kel closed her eyes and counted to ten in Yamani every time one of the arrows was pulled out. To these people, she was a knight, a brave warrior. It would not do for them to see her weak from pain. Once the healing was complete, she requested a room with a bath ready and _lots_ of food and water.

She bathed, putting her dirty clothes in a pile for the maid and pulled out a pair of clean clothes she always brought with her. After gulping down half a jug of water and eating only a dinner roll, she laid down to sleep. She planned to have a talk with the men-at-arms and the head of the town the next day. Loitering when someone is in trouble, whether it be a commoner or the king himself, is not acceptable. That whole night, she dreamt of a copper figure flying over the village, dropping feathers on everyone.

Ok, I know it's really short, but I promise that another chapter will be on its way soon. Please read and review!


	3. New Faces and Old Friends

The next morning came too soon for the aging lady knight. The sun was well over the horizon before she could get her body to leave its soft comfortable bed. As she stretched and cracked her neck, she sighed.

"Time was I could get through glaive practice before dawn. Now I'm lucky if I'm out of bed before noon." Kel grumbled as she pulled her shoulder-length gray-streaked hair into a low ponytail. She had allowed her bangs to grow out so it would be easier to pull back with her hair. After getting dressed, she purposefully walked to the kitchen to eat a late breakfast and get back on the road as soon as possible. The knight had been on her way home before being interrupted by those bandits. She was all ready a day late, and her family would begin to worry if she didn't hurry. Thankfully, someone had found her horse wandering around after it ran from the fight. Kel wouldn't have felt right about taking a horse from the all ready poor town. The horse nudged her in a soft apology.

"Some war-horse you are." she answered jokingly. She had picked this horse simply because no one else would. The mare had been considered to timid to fight. Compared to when Kel had first bought her, the horse had improved immensely. However, Amaya still had a ways to go. Quickly saddling the mare, Kel turned her thoughts to arriving home to her family.

Four days later, the lady knight rode in through the gates of Fief New Hope. What was once a refugee camp was now feudal lands given to her by the king as a reward for ridding the world of Blayce and his killing devices. It was also partly because the refugees had refused to leave Kel's leadership and return to their old homes, where they would once again be treated as slaves instead of people. The best part was that their actions forced more lords to reconsider their treatment of their people, lest they decide to leave. In fact, quite a few workers and merchants did leave, many arriving at Kel's new fief. This had quickly brought wealth into Kel's lands, so the place soon resembled a fief instead of a refugee camp. Out of respect for the dead refugees, Kel kept the name New Hope, while most still referred to her as a Mindelan. Luckily, she and her husband simply thought it a good joke.

"She's BACK!" a child shrieked as he tore through the courtyard. Kel's oldest grandson, Piers, leapt at her, knowing she would catch him just at the last minute and put her one step closer to a heart attack.

"You shouldn't do that when I'm getting off my horse." she scolded the six-year-old as the rest of her grandchildren that were able to walk ran up to her.

"What did you bring us?"

"Did you fight any dragons?"

"What took you so long?"

"What did you bring us?"

"Do you have any new stories?"

"What was the palace like?"

"What did you bring us?"

"How is Uncle Neal?"

"And Aunt Yuki?"

"What about--"

"What did you bring--"

"ENOUGH!" yelled the lady knight as she tried to dislodge herself from the six children. She looked at each child sternly, trying to hide her amusement. "Where is your grandfather at?" she inquired more softly.

"Waiting to see what you brought us." was the humorous reply from behind her. Kel spun around to find her hazel eyes staring straight into a pair of clear blue eyes. Domitan of New Hope picked her up and spun her around. No amount of years had worn down his sense of humor. He then kissed her while still spinning slowly. By the time he put her down, the children were all chanting vulgar songs and rhymes.

"Well, you just got part of your present." she told him with a slight grin. She looked at the children with raised eyebrows. "Did you teach them those songs?" she asked accusingly as five sparrows perched on her shoulders and one on her head.

"Only the first three!" Dom answered with wide-eyed innocence.

"They wouldn' leave me alone 'til I taught 'em at least five." came a deep voice to her right. Tobe, her head hostler, had come out of the stable to take care of Amaya. He looked at her laughingly. "Luckily, they're quick learners."

Kel opened her mouth with a retort when a sudden screech filled the air. All of the children clapped their hands over their ears, complaining loudly the whole time. As soon as it started, it stopped. Kel looked around confused until a feather floated down in front of her.

"Um--" was all she could say before what looked like a large copper horse at first landed next to her. It took a while for the animals, mainly horses, to calm down. Before Kel could do anything, Piers reached out to touch to immortal.

"Don't!" yelled Kel and Dom simultaneously as they saw the razor sharp beak close in on the child…and sniff him. That's all. Suddenly all of the children were trying to pet him, and feed him treats they had snuck from Kel's travel packs while looking for presents.

"Kel?"

"Hm?" came her answer, which was little more than a squeak.

"What exactly did you bring us?" asked Dom seriously as he stared in amazement at the once savage griffin.


End file.
